Emma Pooley is almost certainly the first doctor of philosophy to win the women’s national time-trial championship, a feat which the Phd in geotechnical engineering accomplished on a testing circuit around Celtic Manor near Newport in Wales. The 31-year-old had taken a year out to finish off her studies before returning to the sport, with this result bringing her a third time-trial championship gold, beating young Katie Archibald by 39 seconds with Dame Sarah Storey third 51 seconds slower.

It was a convincing win by the Lotto-Belisol rider. Nevertheless, having already won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the world title in 2010, Pooley was expected to perform well on what was a hilly route.

“It was a bit special because it’s been a while since I last won a race,” Pooley said, “but I really liked the course, it was pretty technical, it was interesting, and there was never more than a few kilometres without a corner or a hill. That sort of course tests more than just the power of a rider.” Pooley, at 1.57m (5ft 2in), is at a disadvantage on flatter courses where mass matters less and horsepower counts much more than light weight and bike handling skills.

The rain that started to fall on the later starters made Pooley’s ride more impressive still, and she judged her effort over the 21km course well, a testimony to her experience. “In a time trial you’ve got to have a constant effort over the whole time,” she said. “I knew it was going to be approximately 30 minutes; so I made sure I didn’t smash myself on the hills and kept the power going on the descents. And of course not fall off – the last few corners were pretty slippery.”

If Pooley and Storey are both well-established, then the runner-up, Archibald, is a new talent who has emerged in the year that Pooley has taken out. The 20-year-old Scot, who won her first world medal as part of the GB women’s pursuit squad earlier this year, is surfing a big wave of form that she hopes will take her all the way to the Commonwealth Games.

“That was still a shock, waiting for the times to come in. I’m ... over the moon” said the pink-haired Glaswegian with a champagne bottle in hand, resorting, for once, to sporting cliche. “When you look at who beat me, the only person who beat me – Emma Pooley – it’s amazing. I’m going to be up all night. I haven’t had a drink in a long time and the combination of this champagne and the adrenaline means I’m gone.”

Archibald appeared shocked by her performance on a course that, as it turned out, suited her better than most would have predicted. The tricky course, studded with short, steep hills suited the young pretender’s pursuit training.

“Because there weren’t any long, sustained climbs on the course, the on-off efforts on short hills with sections of downhill to recover really suited me, it was like the interval training I do for the team pursuit,” Archibald said. “Plus we’ve been up here since Monday and ridden the course a lot, so we got into that bobsleigh thing of being able to close your eyes and memorise the course. It paid off because this is a technical course.”

Her next outing will be the women’s national road race on Sunday but after that it’s all about the track events. “Yes, getting ready for the Commonwealths is next and I’m on a bit of a roll, so if I can carry on, it’s going to be good,” she said.

With Pooley back performing at top level, and young talent such as Archibald and Elinor Barker (as well as the road riders Hannah Barnes, Lucy Garner and Jessie Walker) pushing established stars such as Lizzie Armitstead (a non-starter here), British women’s cycling is certainly looking in good shape.